Compassionate Trauma Therapy in NYC

Trauma can leave a lasting mark on how you feel, think, and connect with others. It may show up as anxiety that won’t quiet down, painful memories that resurface when you least expect them, or moments when small things suddenly feel overwhelming. It can affect your sleep, your sense of safety, your ability to trust, and the way you show up in close relationships. Sometimes it looks like feeling numb, disconnected, or stuck, even when life seems fine on the outside. As a trauma therapist in NYC, I offer gentle, evidence-based trauma therapy for adults, with a particular focus on Chinese and Asian American clients. Healing is possible, and you don’t have to do it alone.

What Is Trauma?

Trauma is the lasting imprint of an experience that overwhelmed your ability to cope at the time. It isn’t defined by the event itself, but by how your mind and body had to adapt to survive it. That’s why two people can go through the same thing and be affected very differently.

Trauma can take more than one form. It can come from a single overwhelming event, such as an accident, a loss, or an assault. It can also build up over time through repeated or ongoing experiences, often in early or important relationships; this is sometimes called complex trauma. And it can be carried across generations and shaped by culture, passed down through families through silence, expectation, or inherited pain.

You don’t need to identify a single moment, and you don’t need your experience to look “serious enough,” for it to be trauma worth attending to. If something from the past still shapes how you feel, sleep, trust, or relate today, that is reason enough to bring it into therapy.

This May Feel Familiar

Trauma can affect almost every part of daily life. You might recognize yourself in some of these:

Anxiety, panic, or a constant sense of being on edge
Intrusive memories, flashbacks, or nightmares
Trouble sleeping, or feeling easily triggered by things that seem small to others
Tension, fatigue, or physical pain without a clear medical cause
Feeling numb, disconnected from your body, or going through life on autopilot
Difficulty regulating emotions, or reacting more intensely than the situation calls for
A harsh inner critic and a deep sense of shame or not being enough
Difficulty trusting others, or pulling away when people get close
Repeating the same painful patterns in relationships, work, or family

Wherever you’re coming from, what you carry is real, and it is workable.

How I Work With Trauma

Trauma is rarely something we can simply think our way through. It often needs to be felt, witnessed, and gently moved through in the safety of a relationship, in a way that respects how much you can hold at any given moment. My work is designed to meet trauma where it actually lives, carefully and at a pace your body can trust.

My approach to trauma is bottom-up, experiential, emotion-focused, and integrative. Bottom-up means we work with what trauma actually lives in: the body, the nervous system, and the emotions that were once too overwhelming to fully feel. Rather than trying to think our way out of trauma, we work gently with what your body is already holding, so that healing happens at a level deeper than insight alone can reach. This approach is grounded in current understanding of how trauma is stored neurobiologically, and in the recognition that real change tends to happen through experience, not just understanding.

Within this framework, I draw on several evidence-based modalities, including AEDP, EMDR, EFT, IFS, somatic approaches, and psychodynamic work. I integrate them flexibly based on what your nervous system and your story call for, rather than applying any single fixed protocol.

Underneath all of this is a simple premise supported by what we now understand about neuroplasticity: the patterns trauma left in you are not permanent. With the right kind of attention, in the context of a trusting therapeutic relationship, the brain can form new pathways. Over time, what once felt unbearable can become something you are able to carry differently, and eventually, something that no longer runs your life.

Trauma Therapy for Chinese & Asian American Adults

For many Chinese and Asian American clients, trauma is layered with culture: family expectations met through sacrifice or criticism, emotions that had to be silenced to keep the peace, and a quiet sense of never being enough. Intergenerational and cultural wounds are real forms of trauma, even when no single event marks them.

For many of us, the experience of immigration is part of this story. Whether you came here yourself or grew up as the child of those who did, immigration carries its own quiet forms of loss: leaving behind a language, a homeland, and the people who knew you; rebuilding an identity in a place that doesn’t always know how to receive it; carrying the weight of your parents’ sacrifices, or watching them struggle in a country that asked them to start over. These experiences can shape how safe you feel in your body, how you relate to your roots, and how much of yourself you’ve had to set aside to belong.

As a bilingual therapist working in both English and Mandarin, I understand intergenerational trauma, cultural expectations, and the particular grief of loving your family deeply and being wounded by them at the same time. Here, you don’t have to translate yourself. Both languages, both worlds, are welcome in the room.

What Trauma Therapy Can Help With

PTSD and trauma-related stress reactions
Complex / childhood trauma and C-PTSD
Intergenerational and cultural trauma
A relentless inner critic, perfectionism, and the reflex to please
Trouble managing emotions: feeling overwhelmed and easily flooded, or shut down and numb
Anxiety, difficulty trusting, and recurring relational pain

Logistics

Sessions. Sessions are 45 minutes, typically held weekly. Some clients meet twice a week for deeper work.

In-person and online. I see clients both at my office in Manhattan and online over Zoom, available to clients located anywhere in New York State.

Fees and insurance. The fee is $175 per session. I am an out-of-network (OON) provider and do not bill insurance directly. I can provide a monthly superbill that you can submit to your insurance for possible reimbursement, with the amount varying by plan.

Sliding scale. A limited number of sliding scale spots are available. If cost feels like a barrier, please bring it up during our consultation. I’d rather have an honest conversation than have it quietly stand in the way.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I know if what I experienced counts as trauma?

If something from your past still affects how you feel, relate, or feel safe in your body, it is worth attention, regardless of whether it looks “serious enough” from the outside. You don’t need to justify your pain or have the right words for it to be real.

What kind of trauma therapy do you offer in NYC?

I offer experiential, evidence-based trauma therapy, drawing primarily on AEDP and EMDR, tailored to your nervous system and your goals rather than a fixed protocol. Sessions are available in English and Mandarin (中文).

Do you work with Chinese and Asian American clients specifically?

Yes. A central focus of my practice is trauma therapy for Chinese and Asian American adults, including intergenerational and cultural trauma. As a bilingual clinician, I can work with you in English or Mandarin.

Will trauma therapy make me relive the worst moments?

No. We work at a pace your nervous system can tolerate, with safety and connection first. The aim is to process what’s been carried, not to re-overwhelm you with it.

How long does trauma therapy take?

It varies. Some people come for focused work over a few months; others stay longer to address deeper patterns. We check in regularly so the work continues to feel useful and right for you.

Begin When You’re Ready

You don’t have to have the right words, and you don’t have to carry this alone. If something in you is quietly asking for support, that’s enough to start.